High-end foundation dupes - Pro Lumiere by Chanel

Happy Friday!! Hope you’ve got a lovely weekend planned. Mine will be fairly dull but hopefully in a nice, relaxing sorta way. I’ve booked an appointment tomorrow to see about getting laser eye surgery; I’m getting my braces off pretty soon and I love the thought of getting rid of my glasses/contacts too… As much as I enjoy looking a bit like Ugly Betty I’d like to try a different look for a change!

And from a practical point of view it’d be pretty nice to be able to tell which kids in the swimming pool are actually my brothers and sister and not just random strangers who’re wondering why I’m waving at them like a lunatic

But onto the matter of the day! My dupe for Pro Lumiere by Chanel… I still remember buying Pro Lumiere and being so blown away by the sheer awesomeness of it that I wore it every single day for over a month (absolutely unheard of for me cos I’m swap n change my makeup constantly!)
High-end : Chanel Pro Lumiere
Price : £33
Shade : Limpide and Clair
Drugstore : Bourjois Healthy Mix
Price : £9.99
Shade : 51, 52, 53, 54 and 55 (I own more shades of this than any other foundation)

What I love about these foundations is how they give a gorgeous dewy glow to the skin that lasts all day, even if my skin is acting up and being more oily/dry than usual. The coverage is medium and although it’s buildable it's definitely not great for covering big blemishes or dark circles (first hand experience!) so a decent concealer is always handy

Although Pro Lumiere is described on the packaging as a semi-matte foundation I’d say it definitely gives a satin finish. If you’re after a matte finish then I’d recommend the pro mat version (funnily enough!) but not this :)

I reckon Healthy Mix by Bourjois has got to be one of the most underrated foundations of all times. And not just when it comes to drugstore goodies – there are plenty of high-end products that cost 4 times as much but don’t hold a candle to this! It looks superb, smells heavenly, goes on easily, lasts ages and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. An all round good egg and if I could only choose to use one of these foundations it'd be Healthy Mix

Each of these products even the skin tone, giving a more perfected, smoothed version of your own skin so they look lovely but still very natural and not too made up. They feel light and comfortable and as long as you’re happy with a dewy finish then you could definitely get away without topping them off with a powder ♥

Perfect... If it wasn't for the creasing

Rimmel Colour Mousse 8hr in Splash (004)

As a general rule I avoid cream/mousse eye shadows because I find the colour isn’t easy to build and I have fairly deep-set droopy lids – all thanks to my parents, who also neglected to give me cheekbones!! - so I always end up with a build up of the product in the crease of my lid which really isn’t a great look. If only I didn't have to blink, eh? :)

However, when I spotted these little Rimmel mousse shadows I loved the colours so much I decided I’d just give them a try and keep my fingers crossed for a long-lasting crease free effect! It's called colour mousse 8hr (LIES!!) so I had high hopes. I dunno exactly what it is about green but I’m always drawn to any sort of green shadows, liners and pencils and knew straight away that I’d love this colour on…
It’s one of those two-tone metallic shades that almost changes colour completely as it reflects the light; it goes from a nice bright gold to a forest green. I know the pics probably don’t show this too well, that’s why I find these so annoying to blog about!
I was feeling lazy (and wearing glasses) the other day so just added a little touch of this to my lid and hey presto, my eye shadow was sorted. Unfortunately the dreaded crease had appeared in no time and although it’s not the end of the world it’s put me off using this again :(

When it comes to eye mousse the No7 Stay Perfect ones are probably the only ones I’ve tried that genuinely look perfect and crease-free after 8 hours or so. If you know of any others that hold up well feel free to recommend them! ♥

FOTD

I decided to wear contacts today so opted for a fairly bright eye look – when I’m wearing my glasses (I only use contacts a couple of times a week max) my eyes are pretty much hidden behind them so it seems a tad pointless to put much time and effort into my makeup if it’s not even noticeable!

Face :
Smashbox primer
Maybelline superstay 24hr concealer
Miss Sporty So Matte foundation
NARS upper orgasm blush

Eyes:
Urban Decay Peace (the blue)
MUA shade 9 (the purple)
NYC Eye Cube in Tony (highlighter)
Rimmel Exaggerate Liner in Ocean (under eye liner)
Lancome le crayon kohl liner in noir (upper eye liner)
AVON Super Shock mascara in black

Lips:
17 Shine On lipstick in Sweet Sizzle
Also, I wanted to say a big thank you to all you lovely people who’ve been nice enough to follow me, leave comments, send emails etc… My blog has become a bit of an obsession and I find myself thinking about products that I can’t wait to review – either because they’re awesome or rubbish! – and I think I’ve learned more in the last year or so from other beauty bloggers than I have since I started wearing makeup many moons ago :)

High-end foundation dupes - Dior Nude

I’ve been a big fan of Max Factor foundations since I started wearing makeup so picked up Xperience as soon as it hit my local store. As for Nude by Dior; it took a while (and a free sample in a magazine) before I finally gave in and purchased this. I just wasn’t convinced that it’d suit my skin because I generally go for full coverage foundations and imagined this being more of a tinted moisturiser thanks to the name! As is often the case I was completely wrong and this has become a firm favourite :)
High-end : Dior Nude
Price : £29.50
Shade : Ivory and Cameo
Drugstore : Xperience
Price : £9.99
Shade : Beige linen 50

These are two of the most natural looking foundations I own – they give a more polished, even-toned smooth look to my skin so they’re absolutely perfect for this time of year when most people are opting for much less makeup thanks to the nice(ish) weather we’ve been having

I know a lot of the more natural finish foundations have a tendency to fade seriously quickly but these last ages without being touched up or topped off with a powder, which is sooo handy if you happen to be a bit of a lazy sod like me

When it comes to foundations I’ve tried quite a few so I’m always on the lookout for qualities that really make a product stand out – with these it has to be the weightless barely-there feel that is hard to come by in liquid foundations! Oh and the fact that they are unbelievably easy to apply is always a bonus... I reckon you could squirt a dollop of these on your face, rub it around with your fingers (without looking in a mirror) and it'd still look perfect ♥

High-end foundation dupes - Chanels Vitalumiere

Hurrah for good skin days! I got up this morning and was well pleased when I saw how well-behaved my skin was being… So well-behaved, in fact, that I didn’t bother with a concealer and used my Instant Radiance foundation by No7. This is saved for days when I have very few blemishes and don’t need full coverage…

…Which is one of the many reasons I find it extremely similar to Chanels Vitalumiere. They are both great for adding a glowing dewy finish to the skin but I’d definitely not recommend them if you’re skin is really oily; the texture and “non-setting” quality means that these leave my t-zone looking like an oil slick on occasion so I am generally pretty careful about when I use them
High-end : Chanel Vitalumiere
Price : £33.00
Shade : 20 Clair - Cameo
Drugstore : No7 Insant Radiance
Price : £12.50
Shade : 03 Porcelain

On the No7 packaging the foundation is described as a radiant boost for tired, stressed skin and the Chanel package says anti-fatigue, smoothing satin finish foundation and I think these descriptions are pretty much interchangeable for the products

The texture, finish, coverage, durability, SPF and lasting time (not particularly long – generally about 6 hours) is the same for each. The main difference for me is the smell, mostly because I really dislike the Chanel foundation scents and find them far too strong and unpleasant. Though not enough to stop using them of course! The smell of the Instant Radiance isn’t anything to write home about but it’s fairly subtle and I can’t imagine it’d be off-putting for many people

Keeping my fingers crossed for another good skin today tomorrow cos I have a few sheer coverage foundations I’m eager to try!

High-end foundation dupes - Double Wear Light

It's day two of my foundation dupes week and I decided to put my money where my mouth is and actually wear two foundations at once… Now if I was just hanging round the house this wouldn't seem like a big deal but I spent the whole day at work then went to visit my best friend in hospital (he fell during a fishing trip and broke his leg) so it was kinda important that I didn't end up looking like Two-Face from Batman :)
High-end : Estee Lauder Light
Price : £25.50
Shade : 2.0 (they actually refer to it as “intensity” on the packaging instead of shade but that seems a tad pretentious for some reason!)
Drugstore : Revlon Colorstay
Price : £12.49
Shade : Buff, Nude and Sand beige

I have Colorstay in a few different shades so it was easy to find one that matches my Estee Lauder Double Wear Light. To keep things fair I even used a different foundation brush for each foundation because it seemed like I'd be cheating if there was some Estee Lauder residue left on the brush when I went to apply the Revlon one. I didn't spend any longer than usual applying two different products but I spent about 10 minutes wandering around the house and into the back garden with a mirror to see if my face definitely looked the same on each side before I left for work!

No one mentioned me looking a tad strange and even when I was leaving work at 5pm my skin still looked even and neither side seemed to be fading more than the other. So far so good

These foundations would definitely make it onto my top 10 list because they give a really nice natural matte finish to the skin without looking like a mask… As much as I like a perfected finish to my makeup I'd rather it looked like my own skin instead of just makeup and I can't stand foundations that dry to give a powdery effect - very 1950s but it's just not a look I'd choose to go for on a daily basis :)

And talk about long-lasting! If I apply either of these foundations over a primer I can pretty much guarantee they'll still look exactly the same at 8pm as they did when applied at 8am! Today is a perfect example of this… I left the hospital at 7.30pm and then met Adryen for dinner; at wich point my skin still looked like its regular-non-two-tone-self

My only bugbear with the Colorstay is that it doesn't come with a pump dispenser. I know this isn't really a big deal but it always gets on my nerves, mainly because I never manage to pour the right amount on the back of my hand. Though I reckon that’s a pretty small price to pay for such an awesome product

Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings ♥

High-end foundation dupes - YSL Teint Resist

Being a tad obsessed with foundation I thought it would be a good idea to do a “week of dupes” where I’ll post about some of my favourite high-end liquid foundations and comparable drugstore alternatives that I love just as much

You’ll probably notice that my collection isn’t full of one type of foundation… I like being able to choose between different levels of coverage, finishes, textures and shades (which is why I have 3 shades of some products!) depending on my mood

Hope you find this useful if you happen to be on the lookout for a new foundation. If you have any questions or anything ask away :)
High-end : Yves Saint Laurent Teint Resist
Price : £29.50
My shade : 5 (because it’s summer – I’ll take it down a notch or two in winter!)
Drugstore : Une Skin-Matt
Price: £12.49
My shade : M05

These are 2 of my most frequently used products and I’m on my second bottle of each. I’ve been using the YSL one for quite a while but only discovered the Une Skin-Matt (no idea why they spell it matt instead of matte…?) foundation about 7 months ago

They both give medium/full buildable coverage so are perfect for use all year round. One of the biggest plus points of these has got to be that they don’t sink into my pores so the end result is a very matte flawless finish

Neither of these foundations cause me to have breakouts or leave me with an oily t-zone, always something I look out for because my t-zone can look like an oil slick if I don’t opt for the right products

They also last extremely well… the coverage is still perfect after 8-10 hours and even after 14 hours or so it fades but not in a patchy unpleasant way so the perfect choice if you know you have a long day ahead of you!

Thanks for stopping by ♥